Little Free Library Adventures #13

 The hubby and I decided to take a much needed break in nature last week. While going in to the city to get food, we've encountered these gems (and a bookstore, which I'll post on another day):

Ojai

This cute LFL was next to the cafe we got our lunch from. I wonder if it stays outside like this, rain or shine. Or do they bring it in during the rain?

Audiobook: Paola Santiago and the River of Tears

By Tehlor Kay Mejia
Narrated by Frankie Corzo

Space-obsessed 12-year-old Paola Santiago and her two best friends, Emma and Dante, know the rule: Stay away from the river. It’s all they’ve heard since a schoolmate of theirs drowned a year ago. Pao is embarrassed to admit that she has been told to stay away for even longer than that, because her mother is constantly warning her about La Llorona, the wailing ghost woman who wanders the banks of the Gila at night, looking for young people to drag into its murky depths.

Hating her mother’s humiliating superstitions and knowing that she and her friends would never venture into the water, Pao organizes a meet-up to test out her new telescope near the Gila, since it’s the best stargazing spot. But when Emma never arrives and Pao sees a shadowy figure in the reeds, it seems like maybe her mom was right. . . .

Pao has always relied on hard science to make sense of the world, but to find her friend she will have to enter the world of her nightmares, which includes unnatural mist, mind-bending monsters, and relentless spirits controlled by a terrifying force that defies both logic and legend.

Goodreads

The Princess Bride Adventure Book Game

 

What can you do when you're trying to limit your contact with the outside world yet not go crazy at home during this pandemic? Why, play a board game! And not just any board game, The Princess Bride Adventure Book Game!

The hubby and I saw this while shopping and we knew we had to get it. We both highly enjoy movie and I had fun reading the original novel (the old version before the added chapter on Buttercup's Baby). Though this board game is based off the movie, I will still count it as a literary game since the movie was based off the book. :D

So what is this board game all about? 

It's a collaborative game that could be played by 1 to 4 players. Players have to work together to make the plot run smoothly between the six chapters (6 different board games together in a book) without getting interrupted by the sick grandson.

Review: Music to My Years

A Mixtape Memoir of Growing Up and Standing Up 

by Cristela Alonzo

In this memoir full of humor and heart, comedian, writer, and producer Cristela Alonzo shares personal stories of growing up as a first-generation Mexican-American in Texas and following her dreams to pursue a career in comedy.

When Cristela Alonzo and her family lived as squatters in an abandoned diner, they only had two luxuries: a television and a radio, which became her pop cultural touchstone and a guiding light.

Cristela shares her experiences and struggles of being a first-generation American, her dreams of becoming a comedian, and how it feels to be a creator in a world that often minimizes people of color and women. Her stories range from the ridiculous—like the time she made her own tap shoes out of bottle caps or how the theme song of The Golden Girls landed her in the principal’s office—to the sobering moments, like how she turned to stand-up comedy to grieve the heartbreaking loss of her mother and how, years later, she’s committed to giving back to the community that helped make her.

Each significant moment of the book relates to a song, and the resulting playlist is deeply moving, resonant, and unforgettable. Music to My Years will make you laugh, cry, and even inspire you to make a playlist of your own.

Goodreads